The Facts: Former chancellor James Oblinger is currently employed by the University as a professor of food, bioprocessing and nutrition science. Oblinger stepped down as chancellor in 2009 due to controversial actions with hiring Mary Easley.
Our Opinion: The campus should be wary of Oblinger’s employment with the University considering his past transgressions.
Former chancellor James Oblinger is now the president of the David H. Murdock Research Institute in Kannapolis, NC. However, he is also still employed with the University as a professor, but we should remember the reason he was asked to leave in 2009, and should watch him carefully to ensure nothing of the sort transpires again.
Oblinger resigned the day key documents to the hiring of then-first-lady Mary Easley were released to the public. Oblinger claimed not to have had a hand in the decision to hire Easley; however, the emails between him and the then-provost Larry Nielsen on the issue proved otherwise.
Oblinger allowed the hiring of Easley to an $80,000-a-year position as an executive in-residence and senior lecturer. Oblinger also provided his provost, Nielsen, a severance that possibly violated University policy, but triggered an emergency Board of Trustees meeting. Any man who is able to incite such controversy should be questionable for any employer; however, for N.C. State, we welcomed him back with open arms.
Since the University is still employing Oblinger — and Nielsen — as professors, it is their responsibility to ensure this type of scandal does not embarrass N.C. State again. They hired Oblinger back, even though he resigned amidst public and media scrutiny.
N.C. State found someone familiar to not only N.C. State itself, but also the content of study. Oblinger, with a Ph.D. in food technology, is clearly qualified to teach his subject. However, there are many qualified candidates with less scandalous backgrounds with the University that could teach here.
This decision is not necessarily a poor one, since one bad decision should not haunt a person the rest of his life. However, if past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior, our administration might want to rethink their decision to keep on such a controversial person.
